A coyote chorus erupts from somewhere across the ravine, sudden and jarring as a 3:00 a.m. car alarm, three rising sustained notes high above a staccato of yips and yaps jabbing five directions at once. It drops away almost as abruptly.

I’m sleeping on an open, second floor porch. Twelve hours ago, a stranger to this country would have taken a bet against anyone with air conditioning and full command of his faculties spending the night this way. During the day, the temperature pushed 100, and entering a parked car required the same ginger-fingered care you’d exercise moving the racks in a preheated oven. But when the sun dips behind the mountains, you start thinking 86 degrees feels about right until it keeps on going down for 25 more.

To beat the heat, we’re off early for a morning hike through Rattlesnake Canyon to see some sandstone arches. We’ve taken a previous long hike in the area, but not reached the arches. This time, we have a 4-wheel-drive Outback to take us in another way over rough back-country roads. According to the map and a guidebook, this should be an easy excursion. I throw two extra bottles of water in the back, just in case.

After an hour-plus drive, we reach a sign that is subject to interpretation as to the suitability of our car for continuing on the road. Male and female opinions diverge in predictable directions. The female wins, and we park the car.

Now I discover that my half-gallon pack bottle has leaked most of its contents into a rear carpet and the back half of The End of Faith. The backup-bottles are now my prime water source. Since the arches trail itself is supposed to be only half a mile, we decide to walk in anyway.

For the first of the two miles to the trail head, I remark on how our Subaru would have made it. For the other half, I try to practice improved marital communication skills and simply think it.

I don’t know whether the guidebook author plagiarized the map or the map maker drew his caption from the book, but both should be beaten with an empty canteen and staked to a Wal-Mart parking lot for publishing a highly misleading account of trip neither of them could have personally taken.

Except for one seen from an overlook, the arches are farther down the canyon. Our half-mile morning out-and-back has turned into a 10-mile trek through the middle of the day.

My personal guidebook entry? We came this far. Might as well take a look. Yep, one looks just like the picture.

Usually, I adapt to adversity by first telling myself, it is what it is and there’s no use getting upset because it’s not what I expected. Next, I shift to meditating on how tough I am, and how this isn’t as hard as other things I’ve done. The third stage involves reflection on how I’m not as young as I used to be. Stage four: no thoughts at all. Final stage: shuffling, gaze fixed steadily ahead; in the extreme final stage, counting steps.

The End of Faith is almost completely dry by our return — one more advantage of this arid climate — although the footnotes pages are permanently curled. I take this as a sign from god.

We were never in danger, except of taking a nap when we got home, which we did, hours later than planned.

[Warning to readers: Katherine Kersten, Minnesota’s Coulter-Lite columnist, styles herself as speaking for the average Minnesotan, while refusing having anything to do with about 70 percent of the people in the state. She specializes in pastiches of RNC talking points, under-sourced claims and playground non-sequiturs packed so densely that it’s impossible to respond to every wrong-headed assertion without going on too long.

Today, I just can’t help myself.]

Dear Katherine Kersten,

As one of the “zillionaires” who signed an ad calling for increased investment in Minnesota’s future, I have heard from a number of people who share your views. Some expressed themselves with humor, some with crudity, and some with a tenuous grasp of rudimentary correspondence skills:

I've been asked by Guvernor Paulenty to contact you. We read in the paper that you would like to give money to the state of Minnesota.

Please send you Visa numbe and password, your checkin acount number to us.

We will make sure we get a photo opportunity for you and also a certificate.

Thank hyou.

I have laughed these off, since they are all shot from a pathetic popgun loaded with the same loud blank: Government sucks, and money spent by individuals pursuing private ends accomplishes more than money spent for the common good.

But when you called me out in your June 26th column(“Gang of 200, feel free to spend your money, not ours“), I felt obligated to respond, because progressives who are polite in the face of idiotic statements by conservatives end up being called cowards.

“In the ad, the signers announced their eagerness to fork over new tax money to expand a boatload of Minnesota government programs.”

It’s hopeless to educate via an ad, especially someone whose mind snaps shut at the mere mention of taxes. But since you read past the headline, you should be able to grasp that the proposal has nothing to do with expanding a “boatload” of programs. Rather, it calls for investing selectively in areas where current state spending is deficient — and where continued neglect will harm the state’s economy.

The Growth & Justice proposal is careful to spell out why a return to previous investment levels is wise, how the money might be raised fairly, and why people at higher income levels should pay more of the increase. All details beyond the scope of the typical Kersten drive-by analysis.

“What programs would these additional dollars support?

“Education, health care, transportation — the sorts of government endeavors that have proven capable of swallowing whatever resources we throw at them, no matter how massive.”

Who could argue with that? Education programs offer no discernible benefits to anyone, unlike, say, Operation Iraqi Freedom. The actual proposal, however, calls for no resource throwing, massive or otherwise. Instead, it advocates fiscal discipline and accountability, but that position doesn’t fit with your view of how progressives think, so you ignore it.

“The Gang of 200 seems badly out of touch with ordinary Minnesotans. Perhaps these folks have so much dough that they don't grasp (or recall) what it's like to live within a budget.”

Ooooo, touché! As a zillionaire, I had forgotten what it was like to live within a budget. Then Governor Pawlenty showed me how.

I learned it was wrong to save money when I had a little extra. I learned I should shift current costs to future years and deliberately not seek any new sources of revenue to ease the budget crunch. I learned this allowed me to justify even more severe budgetary measures such as laying off employees, freezing the pay of those left and asking my suppliers to finance their own projects. That’s what living within a budget is like under our present administration.

“After all, when did they last have to raid the rainy day fund to pay for day care or struggle to make payroll at a small business?”

Most Minnesotans who can’t fund day care aren’t dipping into the rainy day fund — because they don’t have one. They’re not coming up short because of taxes. They’re struggling because they don’t have jobs that pay enough. They can’t afford to drive to work and day care from where they can afford to live. The day care options they can find often aren’t providing their kids the enrichment that will get them ready to succeed in school. As for helping their kids with the college education they need to break this cycle, forget it.

Katherine, I met payroll for 17 years, and I remember very well what it took.

It had nothing to do with taxes. It started with a vision and then managing my entire business — instead of just my budget — accordingly. I invested in hiring good people, first-class benefits and technology. Our motto was: Employees paid first, owners last. Some years I did very well; others, my employees earned bonuses and I didn’t.

We focused on quality work and quality relationships that would grow the top line. We didn’t micromanage people. We donated a chunk of profits every year and matched employee charitable contributions. I made sure when employees looked at the boss they would seek to emulate his work ethic, not his life style. I worked very hard and worried a lot, but I wouldn’t call it a struggle to meet payroll.

Maybe you could recommend this business approach to your friends in the Taxpayers League who think government is holding them back.

Now, let me answer the questions you posed.

“Do you currently employ an accountant or lawyer to help you do tax planning, in order to ensure that your tax bill is as low as possible? If so, will you henceforth instruct him or her to maximize the sum you turn over to the state of Minnesota?”

There you go again. First, you accuse us of not knowing anything about budgets. Now, we’re somehow devious for managing our finances like any businessperson. Of course I get help with my returns. It helps me make sure I pay only what’s owed, and it keeps me out of trouble for paying less.

Your second question is nonsense. If you follow the tax rules, there’s no maximized sum. What you’re suggesting is akin to paying a restaurant bill that includes everything on the menu instead of what you ordered. Henceforth, I will pay what I owe, like always.

“Have you established residency outside Minnesota, or do you have assets or income in other states — at least in part because of those states' lower tax rates? If so, will you be returning your wealth to Minnesota, in order to enhance your ability to pay taxes here?”

This is another canard.

Weather, family, cost of living, quality of life and the prospects of rewarding work influence most peoples’ decisions about where to live, including mine. My business, residence and primary tax return remain in Minnesota, but I also paid income, sales and real estate taxes in Colorado, too. That’s fair.

You appear to have me confused with a member of the Taxpayers League or the Naples/Minnesota Mafia who views the world through tax-tinted glasses and makes life decisions based on money.

“Your ad proposes a tax on annual income, not on assets already accumulated. Are you willing to propose taxes based on the substantial wealth you already have, like second homes or art collections, rather than what you earn in any given year?”

You forgot to mention the ad didn’t propose a tax on churches, first born males or saying the Pledge of Allegiance, either. Are you asking me whether I support some kind of estate tax on the living? How does that follow from a proposal to make the income tax more proportional, so the people who benefit most from a growing economy pay their fair share?

If I didn’t know how much you hate people who engage in class warfare, I’d think you were doing just that with your assets tax proposal.

“Better yet, let's have an interim test of the Gang of 200's idea. We'll accept their personal offer of new tax money and funnel their contributions into a government program they believe is underfunded — public schools, for example.

Katherine, a “personal offer” is not a tax; maybe it’s a fee. But the tax contribution from 200 won’t be enough to make a difference, and if you did the math, that would be clear.

We agree on the measures. You just don’t want to front the money and set realistic conditions for making the investment work.

Interesting how you insist on seeing data for things you don’t want to believe in — such as public education — but don’t have similar standards for things you do believe in.

I think we should study how the money donated to churches makes a measurable difference — say, reduced poverty or higher admission rates to heaven. If you can document the increase, I’ll gladly divert all my zillions to support your cause.

Wheeling cross-country in the car, we allow more time for conversations to unwind. I read to her from the Des Moines Register about "A British army regiment's ceremonial pet goat" — a phrase that scans quickly, but just try to articulate each syllable aloud. The story contains this inadvertent couplet: "The mascot darted from side to side, throwing soldiers off their stride..." I read it again and again in a thick Scottish brogue, amusing at least one of us.

A Nebraska rest stop commemorates a "massacre" in which Indians killed "several" settlers. All the rest stops have wireless.

We talk about the electronic medical record (EMR) that politicians from George Bush to Mark Kennedy have held up — along with ending frivolous lawsuits and health savings accounts — as the road to lower health care costs. Her office instituted the EMR years ago. It now takes doctors longer to do their paperwork and requires more nurse time to room each patient and prepare the doctors for the appointment, at least for certain visits, because past tests that could once be reviewed with a flip of the chart must now be called up, screen by screen.

The office has not reduced labor costs as a result. In fact, they've had to add a scanner, an extra nurse and two full-time IT staff.

I don't blame to politicians for not fixing the problem, but they shouldn't pretend it's all about consumer choice, trail lawyers and technology. Finding a solution is complex and hard up against the reality that too many expect medicine to keep them alive forever, while driving too much, carrying around 30-pound sacks of extra goo on their frames and doing little of anything to prolong a healthy lifespan on their own.

Healthcare, like government services, is something Americans demand but don't expect to pay for. Hell, like everything else, it seems, during this drive across the Plains.

We are towing a small trailer and have just driven 800 miles without passing another vehicle. I think I have never driven 8 miles without passing another vehicle or exceeding the speed limit. This could be good training for the disposition, as it appears I have not died from it yet.

A feedlot in eastern Colorado has cattle penned in different segments. Soon, they will be on trucks bound for the Monfort processing plant, but right now, not one of them knows they will all be dead in weeks. I see one lighter colored cow facing west, pointed opposite the rest of the herd.

What do we know about where we will be in weeks?

Watch the road, I am told, gently, by the woman too busy to be a blogger.

Joel Kramer of Growth & Justice appeared on this week's Almanac to discuss the group's Invest for Real Prosperity proposal. [The segment is 11:30 into the program.]

Predictably, questions centered on taxes and the opposing view was presented by Harold Hamilton, member of the Taxpayers League and owner of a business that employs 125 people. Kramer did a good job countering questions about the proposal, including why private philanthropy (Just send in a check if you feel that way) can't address the investment issues.

All current private, non-religious, philanthropy, including that from those who support higher taxes, totals slightly less than the $2 billion proposed to be raised. If all the signers of the proposal sent in additional checks equal to the proposed tax obligation, it would only total $4 million a year – hardly enough to build a road, let alone propel the state forward.

On the income tax inequity problem, Kramer said it would take 260 families to equal Taxpayers League funder Bill Cooper's income last year. Yet those families would pay $1 million more in taxes than Cooper under the present system.

Hamilton said, government has a spending problem, not a tax problem, and for evidence, he said private schools can educate kids for less than the public school system. No word on how efficient the privates would be if they took on all kids, however

Hamilton also said increased taxes would kill small business investment needed to grow sales and create jobs. As a former job creator and company owner, I can tell you what he really means, since in all likelihood his company's taxes flow to his personal return: "If I pay higher taxes, I won't reduce my compensation in order to invest in my business."

First Congressional District candidate Tim Walz, in a City Pages interview, on being a "fighting Dem" veteran running for office:

I am a little uncomfortable with the militarization of everything. I
think there is great leadership that is not in the military, as well.

I don't downplay it, and I don't bite the hand that feeds me,
because it has gotten me a lot of press. But I also have always looked
at it as just one piece of character. The National Guard is a very
honorable thing to do, but I am also honored that I have survived 20
years of lunchroom supervision at school.

In case, like the governor, you didn't get past the eye-catching ad headline about paying more taxes, here is what it was really about:

We need more Minnesotans to accquire post-secondary degrees. Yes, we still have a relatively high high school graduation rate, but that's not enough to qualify people for most decent jobs today. Getting kids ready for college actually starts with getting them ready for kindergarten.

We need all of Minnesota's children to have health insurance. A strong start in life positions kids for success in school, and the effects of early preventive care and screenings ripple through the economy.

We need more transportation options. Not just roads, but options what reduce congestion.

The state is not investing enough in these areas, and the consequences are becoming very apparent to more Minesotans. But the governor dodged entirely the challenge to his small vision and myopic focus.

He made a joke about challenging the ad's signers to send in a check to the state. And in a backhanded way, implied they were running the ad to get personal recognition of their good citizenship.

Pawlenty should know, after inviting road contractors to send in a check to the state so they could build the 62/35W interchange, financing government doesn't work that way. In fact, philanthropy will never cover all the needs of our society. Not even close.

Still, as Twin City Sidewalks points out, Pawlenty’s “Drive to Excellence” program also asks for donations. "The deal is that the state
government asks companies, big and small, to 'lend' some of their
talented (and well paid) employees for a year. The state is also asking
private companies to pick up the tab for salary and benefits. What do
the companies get in exchange for this altruistic gesture?

"The
answer is probably, apart from a feeling of goodwill, the opportunity
to manipulate the state’s buying and infrastructure decisions."

No, Pawlenty doesn't want the discussion to be about investment, fiscal policy, priorities for the future or what really builds a healthy economy over time. He has to make this about taxes, because really, that's all he's got.

Disappointing as his remarks were, they were also predictable.

More troubling is the response from the progressive world. Aside from the comment thread on MNSpeak, I haven't seen a lot of discussion and support from progressives.

Here are some ideas that can stir up healthy debate and have a lot more to do with people's lives than gay marriage and immigration. But not if the anti-tax crowd is still doing all the talking.

At an earlier session, I heard Dick McFarland, a Republican and former investment company CEO, describe how his taxes have declined over the past five years, during a period when income for top earners has increased strongly, while real wages for middle and lower income households have stagnated.

"Paying a couple more pennies on the dollar would not adversely affect my life style one bit, but it would create a stronger Minnesota, where the benefits of economic growth are more available to all," he said.Under the banner of "Works for Minnesota. Works for Me." Growth & Justice is looking for more Minnesotans willing to sign a statement of support for the Invest for Real Prosperity principles.

As a respected but retired business leader, McFarland isn't sticking his neck out quite as far as signers still active in business. Privately, some other prominent business people expressed support but declined to go public because doing so would present conflicts with clients, boards or professional obligations. Certainly, signing could make for chilly conversations where prosperous folks mingle.

In today's StarTribune, an ad appeared calling for greater state investment in education, healthcare and infrastructure, with the additional tax money coming from Minnesotans in the upper tax brackets. It proposes a new fiscal strategy for the state, developed by Growth & Justice, which would invest in real prosperity — that is, prosperity that reaches all Minnesotans, and not just some at the top.

The call isn't coming from politicians. Certainly not candidates for governor in either party. Raising taxes is regarded these days as worse than beating puppies to death. In fact, Ron Carey or David Strom may soon be accusing the sponsors of just that.

No, the people signing the ad are those who expect to pay the higher tax rate. If you've read this blog over the past year, it should not surprise you to know I am one of the signers.

The right wing bloggers have already started to howl. GOP Wingman accuses the Strib of blatant bias in running a story, because Joel Kramer of Growth & Justice is a former publisher of the Strib under a previous owner. The paper is behind this, he implies.

He doesn't get that a newspaper publishes news. Wealthy people saying taxes should be raised is news. God knows the paper has given plenty of coverage to the rich and their surrogates who believe the wealthy should have their taxes cut.

Residual Forces, that renowned voice of reason, says "Now we have rich people who want to have more money taken from us, but only if it is spent on the right stuff." I have news for him: unless he makes over $475k a year, he pays a higher proportion of his income in state taxes than these "rich people." The Bill Coopers and other Taxpayers League types want to keep it that way. And as for the state only spending money on the right stuff, maybe he could explain why that is a problem for a conservative to accept.

Of course, maybe he expects us to believe reflexively that education, health and infrastructure are the wrong things.

There will be other attacks on the strategy forthcoming from people who haven't read it, who don't care how it would work, and have no interest in engaging the ideas and research being put forward. They'll attack it as tax and spend, because they don't believe government is capable of saving and investing.

Wise strategic investment can make more benefits of economic growth accessible to all. This kind of public discussion has largely been absent over the past decade — in Minnesota and at the national level — but the theme is starting to re-emerge as the problems with perpetual tax cutting become apparent. What remains to be seen is whether progressive and moderate candidates embrace a positive vision for Minnesota that is good for the state and for individuals — but involves raising more revenue.

Take some time to read the fiscal strategy, who would be affected, and how it might work. It is not a specific proposal, but a framework for how Minnesota can do a better job preparing for the future. (As distinct, say, from having contractors float construction loans for road projects.)

There's more work to be done on policy details and how government could actually operate using a long-term investment strategy. I'll have more posts on the subject coming up.